Image source: Getty Images
Having been an investor for nearly four decades, my investing strategy has evolved over time. Nowadays, I’m a big fan of two things. First, value investing, which my hero Warren Buffett defines as buying into great companies at fair prices. Second, I love collecting passive income in the form of share dividends.
Fabulous FTSE 100 dividends
As a value/dividend investor, I’ve found many of my top stocks in the UK’s main FTSE 100 index. Indeed, my family portfolio currently includes over 20 different Footsie and FTSE 250 shares. We bought many of these for their market-beating dividend yields.
Of course, the FTSE 100 is a broad church, especially in terms of size. For example, it includes huge companies valued at much as £197.3bn as well as much smaller businesses of around £3.5bn. Also, not all Footsie stocks pay dividends, while the highest cash yields can exceed 9% a year.
Interestingly, the vast majority of the FTSE 100’s passive income/share dividends comes from just a handful of companies. In fact, more than half — roughly 53% — of total FTSE 100 dividends for 2025 should come from just 10 stocks.
Three dividend dynamos
For example, take these three mega-cap UK shares, which together will pay almost a quarter (23.4%) of all expected FTSE 100 dividends this year:
| Company | Industry | Share price | Market value | Dividend yield | Yearly payout |
| HSBC Holdings | Banking | 994.8p | £172.0bn | 5.0% | £8.6bn |
| Shell | Energy | 2,690p | £156.3bn | 4.0% | £6.3bn |
| Unilever | Consumer goods | 4,551p | £111.3bn | 3.4% | £3.7bn |
The total expected dividends in 2025 from these three global Goliaths comes to £18.6bn. That’s roughly £650 for each of the UK’s 28.6m households. However, this valuable passive income is only for the shareholders of these businesses. Also, future dividends are not guaranteed, so they can be cut or cancelled at short notice.
Universal Unilever
My family portfolio includes one of these dividend dukes: Unilever (LSE: ULVR). We bought into this Anglo-Dutch producer of fast-moving consumer goods for its strong portfolio of brands and its decent dividend yield.
I see Unilever as a long-term survivor. It was founded in 1929, before a huge US stock-market crash triggered the Great Depression. Also, over 3.4bn of the world’s 8bn people use Unilever products every day. In other words, its brands are not just well-known, they are everywhere.
Right now, Unilever shares offer a dividend yield of 3.4% a year, slightly above the FTSE 100’s yearly cash yield of 3.2%. But the group has a decades-long history of raising this yearly payout, plus its shares tend to be less volatile than the overall UK stock market.
I sleep well at night knowing that Unilever’s extensive portfolio of brands — in beauty and well-being, personal care, home care, nutrition, and ice cream — sells as I snooze. Even during dramatic downturns, people must wash, eat, and clean their clothes, homes, and themselves.
Alas, the next worldwide recession is coming — the only question is when. In a downturn, consumers usually tighten their belts. This would likely hit Unilever’s revenues, margins, earnings, and cash flow. Even so, I see this stock as a long-term hold for its powerful passive income!
